Paige Turner

New Zealand's long-troubled Holidays Act is finally being replaced, after the Employment Leave Bill passed its third and final reading in Parliament this week. Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden described the reform as the delivery of something workers and businesses have been asking governments to

Invercargill is getting its own international undersea cable — the first to land anywhere in the South Island. Datagrid New Zealand has signed contracts with Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and OMS Group to build the Tasman Ring Network, a 2,300 km optical submarine cable running between Invercargill and Melbourne. ASN

A Southland seafood company has been fined $39,000 for illegally shifting thousands of live oysters and mussels into the Bluff area — repeatedly, and in full knowledge of the rules. Fresh is Best NZ Limited was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court today on 13 charges under the Biosecurity Act.

Police were called twice in June after staff at Invercargill City Council were subjected to abuse — the latest sign that anti-social behaviour towards council workers is getting worse, not better. The council's most recent health, safety and wellbeing report recorded 23 incidents involving verbal abuse and threatening behaviour

Something went wrong at Greenpoint Cemetery. A councillor is angry about it. And no one will say what happened. Cr Andrea de Vries raised the incident at a council meeting on Tuesday, telling staff she had been contacted about a "pretty traumatic experience" at the cemetery near Bluff.

Two Southland drivers were caught over the alcohol limit this morning — not from drinking and driving, but from drinking the night before and assuming they were fine by morning. Both were pulled over in routine traffic stops for speeding. Both blew over the legal limit on evidential breath testing. One

Invercargill's first full playground renewal in years has reopened in South City, and it comes with features the city has never seen in a neighbourhood park before. Pomona St Playground officially opened on Wednesday after nearly four months of construction, unveiling what council Play Advocate Dr Damien Puddle

Two Southland drivers caught speeding this morning were also over the legal alcohol limit — both after drinking the night before and assuming they'd slept it off. One of the stops was in a school zone. Both drivers underwent evidential breath testing after being pulled over for speeding. Both